In a few short weeks, City of Norman Solid Waste Division Manager Bret Scovill will take center stage at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum for a well deserved and – some may say – long awaited spotlight recognizing outstanding work in sanitation and recycling operations throughout the state of Oklahoma.

The spotlight – in the form of an award presentation – is literally the achievement of a lifetime. Scovill will be named the 2022 Keep Oklahoma Beautiful Lifetime Achievement Award winner, an honor bestowed to only 31 other Oklahomans to date.

“I had no idea this was coming,” Scovill said, explaining he learned about the selection at a recent meeting with industry counterparts. “I could think of 100 people that were more deserving of this award than I am. I’m just incredibly honored.”

Those that know Scovill are well aware that his modest and humble demeanor compels him to think of others first. It’s part of his character. Joy and fulfillment have always been in the work for him; titles and accolades come last.

“There is no greater reward in life than when you are able to lift up other people,” Scovill said. “So I’ve tried to connect and influence others to help set them on a path toward success. That’s the stuff I like –watching somebody win, watching them hit those home runs. I could go the rest of my life and not get a single award and I’d be happy with just that.”

Fellow board members of the Oklahoma Chapter of the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) nominated Scovill for the award in recognition of fervent efforts to preserve beauty and promote sustainability statewide for the better part of four decades. Keep Oklahoma Beautiful is a nonprofit organization and state affiliate of Keep America Beautiful, working to empower citizens to help improve communities through litter prevention, waste reduction and beautification.

Such board members are among the people Scovill admires most. He is quick to sing the praises of a long list of fellow managers and operators at neighboring municipal agencies or private sector companies throughout the state when asked about success. A win for one is a win for all, he says. But despite his best efforts to shift the spotlight, Scovill remains a key player and industry expert whose visionary leadership has brought to life projects such as Norman’s recently opened Household Hazardous Waste Facility and upward of 70 solid waste management operations for communities across Oklahoma.

“Knowledge is everything in this business and I love that I’ve never stopped learning,” Scovill said. “It’s not an age thing or an experience thing for me; I like to be surrounded by the people with the best ideas and those that want to continue learning too.”

Scovill got his start in the brick laying business as a head equipment operator. There, he says, he learned business principles and tenants that he would apply to every position he held afterward. He worked for a time in the Oklahoma City area and helped construct community cornerstones such as the 13-story clock tower and Bizzell Memorial Library on the University of Oklahoma’s campus, as well as several facilities at the Griffin Memorial Hospital campus. As a dedicated father to a son with special needs, Scovill said he made a career change to solid waste management in the 1980s when a neighbor approached him about a job opportunity offering medical insurance to employees at no cost.

“Free health insurance, and a free pickup truck – I didn’t think twice about it,” he said, smiling.

But his work was certainly cut out for him. Seventy-hour work weeks and strategic planning on the advent of the Resource Conservation Recovery Act and its enforcement kept Scovill entrenched in his career – and climbing the ranks. It took a lot of fortitude, a lot of commitment, and a lot of time.

“In those days, the trash business was rough,” he said, speaking largely of equipment and labor conditions. “I was good at it but it was dangerous. I lost a few people. That changes you.”

In 2015, Scovill joined the City of Norman, carrying close-to-heart experiences that led him to think of safety first and take on community-wide educational initiatives. He would also advocate for changes to create a more appealing, efficient and secure work environment.

“I’d gone to a household hazardous waste event a few years ago here in Norman and we had kids that were coming in to help who got an hour’s worth of training just to be put out around all this toxic stuff,” Scovill said. “I didn’t like that and I was concerned from a safety standpoint. I’d been complaining and complaining about it and I said, you know, complaining never got anything done. I jumped out of the chair, walked into my manager’s office and said, ‘We need to get a facility built before someone gets hurt.’ He said we absolutely did. And we built it.”

The Household Hazardous Waste Facility opened its drive-through bay in February 2022 and now services Norman utility customers with appointments at no charge. Not long after, ground was broken on the new Solid Waste Administrative Building – a 6,300 sq. ft. facility set for completion in Spring 2023. Revitalized infrastructure for a dedicated staff and growing community – a community on track to become home to even more residents in the next 10 years – is a crucial and much-needed investment.

“It has been the good fortune of the Solid Waste Division employees, that we have a community that is interested in the modernization of Solid Waste Management,” Scovill said during a cover-feature interview for Waste Advantage Magazine earlier this year. “When it comes to requests regarding the update of composting, recycling and staff facilities, the leadership of the City of Norman always responds with a yes.”

Scovill currently oversees 50 employees for six types of operations. He is unwavering in his team’s responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars and attests that they have exceptionally rewarding jobs that allow them to make differences in the day-to-day lives of residents and business owners.

“One day of missed trash is a crisis and we realize that,” Scovill said. “So we’ll always go back and empty the cart, we’ll always show up for the people we serve. The accolades and pats on the backs are definitely nice but I think a lot of times we kind of take pride in the fact that we don’t get a lot of that. We quietly come in, we do what we’re supposed to do, we go home and you don’t even notice that we’re there. It’s reliable and dependable service that you don’t have to check up on and that’s where we feel like we have succeeded. It’s what we’re doing when nobody is looking is what’s important to us – that’s where our integrity is.” 

When Scovill isn’t tutoring an up-and-comer or filling in the gaps of long-term planning, he is likely to be at a church, school or business meeting illustrating how “being a good monitor of your waste stream starts at the cash register” and emphasizing the importance of reducing, as well as recycling. He takes meetings inside of Norman city limits and out, cherishing any opportunity to share the knowledge he has gained with others.

“We recycle because it’s the right thing to do,” Scovill said. “It’s not a money-maker. It definitely isn’t the easiest thing to do. But it’s the right thing to do. … You can scarcely find somebody that does what I do that hasn’t stood out on the edge of a landfill and watched stuff come in and just been terrified. It’s gut wrenching to see what we’re doing. So the idea is – let’s reduce. Well, how do we get that message out? The best way I know how is to go talk to those little ladies at the church and tell them not to buy plastic at the grocery store. Those are some of my favorite times.”

Scovill, who turns 70 in February, said he has no plans of quitting any time soon. The Lifetime Achievement Award serves as another milestone in a legacy of love, learning and public service that he can’t wait to continue building.